Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Book Review: The Summit Prince of Braga by Mark Horrell

The Annapurna Circuit
was enjoying a record year, with more tourists than ever before. In the
big tourist lodges in Manang, trekkers were having to sleep on the
floor.

Slightly to the north of the Marsyangdi Valley just off
the bustling tourist trail, a narrow gorge guarded by sheer cliffs
hundreds of feet high leads to a hidden valley high on the Tibetan
plateau, a region remote enough for Khampa guerillas to use it as a
hideout when they were fighting Chinese Communists in the 1970s.

This
is the Naar Phu valley, a land of mediaeval villages hewn into rock,
isolated Buddhist monasteries and snow-capped mountains. It's an area
once closed to tourists, but now open to explore for those with
restricted permits.

It's a place of surprising colour which Mark
Horrell was privileged to explore, but it wasn't the only highlight of a
remarkable trek, which saw one of the best views the Himalayas have to
offer, a knife-edge summit, and the bleak and lonely Tilicho Lake,
reputedly the highest lake in the world. Oh, and some crazy horse
racing. There were so many highlights; all he needed was someone to show
him a way through it all.

The Summit Prince of Braga is his
travel diary from a journey through a hidden part of Nepal's Annapurnas,
and will appeal to any lover of trekking and climbing in the Nepal
Himalayas, or of mountain literature in general. The book includes many
of the author's photographs from his journey.

My Review:A trek through the trails of Annapurna with Mark Horrell and his tour group and their own unique take on things.

Conversation
on the trip is amusing, starting with a discussion about whether or not
the Chinese really got the Olympic flame to the top of Everest as they
claim to have done. The other Mark tells a story about his Everest trip
where he passed an older man in the Icefall who seemed to be struggling
and he helpfully commented 'Alright mate, you're looking a bit f*****!',
unaware that it was actually Ranulph Fiennes! How embarrassing that
would be! Kind of like telling Edmund Hillary 'You'll never get up
there'...I was also interested that a member of Chris Bonington's
Annapurna team in 1970 claims to have encountered a Yeti. I want to read
more about that as the whole Bigfoot thing fascinates me!

The
scenery on this trip sounds amazing. The author is very vivid in his
desciptions of the trip complete with photographs. Climbing peaks,
visiting the highest lake in the world and having the beauty of the
Annapurna range to look at. It sounds wonderful! I liked the easygoing
relationship that the author has with his sherpa team on these trips and
the laughs they all semm to have, including the local horse racing
event. It does make you want to go on these trips and experience it for
yourself.

I would love to see these travel diaries in a series of
paperback volumes so I can really appreciate the beautiful photographs
instead of having tiny black and white pictures on my Kindle.

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